Item 11 - Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan

1 item: letter with envelope.

Northlands, Englefield Green, Surrey. - Explains that musical emphasis is very different from that of prosody: though Tovey's music [for "The Bride of Dionysus"] may often retain Trevelyan's 'verse-rhythms'. it will not express 'verse-technique', and Tovey may often omit words in the more dramatic passages as he composes. Tovey's version of the text will only appear in the score, without comment, which would draw attention to these small differences to the text. More general comments on his objection to 'song-composers setting poetry to Wagnerian musical prose' due to the 'confusion between dramatic & lyric rhythm'. Sends 'respects to Sisyphus' [Trevelyan's poem "Sisyphus: an operatic fable"?] and encourages him to press on and not worry too much about the quality of jokes at the moment. A postscript notes that he will pencil some stage directions into Trevelyan's copy before he returns it; another asks if an addition can be made to Minos' first speech; a third suggests that Mercy might be called 'Daughter of Justice'.

Tovey has made corrections and additions in pencil.
Blue and red crayon indicating points of interest.